Song of Sorrow - A Prelude
by ZZ Eclipse
Summary: There is no savior for the people of Termina. While the Hero of Time rests safely in the Sacred Realm, young Ethan is forced to learn the harsh realities of a life without a hero and the horrible truth about humanity. SET IN TERMINA DURING THE EVENTS OF OCARINA OF TIME
1. Fire

_**CHAPTER 1**_

_**FIRE**_

_**"Your friends... What kind of... people are they? I wonder... Do these people... think of you... as a friend?"**_

_** ~Moon Child**_

She can see me.

I know she can see me because her hopping steps halt abruptly, the large pink flower on her head swaying to a stop. Her large luminescent orange eyes stare at me from the distance, though I don't know if its in fear or curiosity. For the past two days, the Deku Shrub child has been coming out further and further from the swamps to gaze thoughtfully at the approaching moon above us. This time I am determined to see her up close. She is gorgeous! A beautiful dress made of flowers and colorful leaves flows from her tiny shoulders down to her feet and the flower petals on her head were adorned with soft white pebbles.

At my twelve years of age I shouldn't even be out here by myself but I was determined to get a closer look at the flower creature. I slowly reach down to the pouch attached to my belt and she takes a cautious step back. Not wanting to scare her off, I let out a soft whistle, to which she curiously cocks her head to the side and steps forward in my direction. She finds that intriguing, I realize, so I whistle again. This time, she whistles a response and I laugh. I think she understands that I mean her no harm because she whistles again and starts towards me.

"Hi," I tell her happily when she reaches me. "My name is Ethan. What's yours?"

She cocks her head to the side questioningly, then chirps something out.

"That's a really pretty name," I tell her. "Let me show you something."

My fingers close around the small ocarina in the pouch and I slowly bring it up to my lips. I start playing a slow, happy tune and I think she loves it. It's a song I've heard coming from the forbidden woods, the Lost Woods, some called it, to the South a few times. As the song starts to pick up in speed and liveliness, the Deku child begins to dance faster and faster, the flowers on her dress becoming a blend of colors as she happily swirls around me.

I reach the climax of the song without noticing that the Deku child has stopped dancing and was beginning to step back again.

"What's wrong?" I ask her and she begins to shake.

A cracking laugh stabs at my ears from behind and I already know who it is; the bully, Lars. His father, Mr Mutoh holds a high position in the Clock Town council and he always turns a blind eye to Lars' cruel bullying. He is not alone, either. Surrounding him are the twins Min and Jin and Jef, all members of his little bullying circle.

I try to shield the Deku Child with my body but they've already seen her. They surround us like a pack of hungry wolfos and I yell at her to run, but she is too petrified to move.

"Hello, _Mudja_," Lars spits, glaring past me at the Deku child in disgust. My blood boils at the sound of the insult I've heard all too many times. _Outsider_. Lars reaches a fist into his pouch and produces an orange powder.

"Do you know what this is, _mudja_?" Lars says, malice in his voice. "Angel Fire." He slams it into the ground and the grass shrivels and burns, making the Deku child yelp and jump. Lars laughs and the ring around us tightens.

"Leave her alone!" I bark at them. This only incites laughter from the group.

"What are you going to do?" Lars' voice drops from a mocking high pitch to an ominous low growl. He shoves his chest and forehead against mine. His breath washes over me like a waterfall as he towers a full two feet over me. My lips and balled fists tremble in fear and rage and he notices this.

"You're going to defend this _mudja_? Alright then."

The blow comes so fast that I don't even see it.

His fist cracks against my nose. Tears blind my vision as I stumble back and fall to the ground. I hear the other three children cheer as Lars steps over my body. He grabs hold of my shirt's collar and swings at me, hard. My world spins as he strikes me three times across the face. Finally he lets go and I fall to the ground, my world spinnin. Painfully, I roll onto my knees and prop myself up on my hands.

Blood runs freely down my lips and broken nose. I gasp in gulps of air as my aching body trembles. Beyond the throbbing pain in my head I can hear the children laughing scornfully as Larry steps away from me and starts towards the Deku child, who is now being held down by the twins. She cries in terror, her enormous eyes widen in fear as Larry laughs and reaches for the explosive powder again.

"Stop," I manage to cough out. I push on my legs and try to stand but a stabbing pain on my chest forces me to fall to the ground desperate whistles of the Deku child become panicked shrieks. I force my neck to crane up and I see her squirming under the weight of the twins. She isn't looking at her murderer, nor his accomplices. Her eyes are transfixed on me, tears flowing freely down her wooden skin and my heart breaks.

_She is an innocent forest creature whose only crime was venturing too far from the Swamplands. She doesn't deserve to die at the hands of this monster!_ Lars seems to read my thoughts, for he pauses, his hand raised high in the air, and turns. Our gazes meet and through my bloody eyes I see his heartless smirk. The twins abandon the Deku child and get out of the way.

"NO!" I scream, my stomach leaping to my throat. My eyes search the ground desperately, and then I see it. Lying a few feet from me is a small, sharp rock. I lunge for it and without thinking, I throw it at him, putting my entire weight into the swing. The rock whistles through the air, meeting its mark and ricocheting with a loud crack off of Lars' neck. The three children gasp as their leader falls to his knees, hands raised as if praying to the Four Guardians.

The Deku child scrambles to her feet and runs away, disappearing in the tall grass. The children don't even try to chase her. Lars' fist opens and the lethal powder rains on him, igniting the flames that would change my life forever.


	2. Storm

CHAPTER 2

THE STORM

"_**What makes you happy? I wonder...what makes you happy...does it make...others happy, too?" **_

_ ~**Moon Child**_

The other three children have scattered to spread the news of Lars' demise but I can't move. The realism of what I've just done dawns on me and I can't help but throw up. My stomach quivers uncontrollably and sweat streams down my face.

_This can't be real_, I tell myself. I run my fingers through my hair and instead of pain I feel nothing. My entire face is numb and tingling. My pupils dilate and my heart begins to race as panic sets in. I have to get out of here. I have to leave now!

I run, my legs pumping numbly, in the direction of the great walls of Clock Town. Overhead, the giant demon-faced moon looms ominously, casting its heavy shadow over the entire town. For two days it has been getting bigger and bigger, causing concern amongst the townspeople. Although most had fled for shelter, not everyone had hurried to leave. Ignoring Astral Professor Shikashi's warnings, many had opted to stay behind and continue with the planned Carnival of Time. One of these advocates was Mr. Mutoh himself as well as my father.

Deep in my gut, however, I know that something horrible is about to happen. I burst through the open doors of the Southern Wall and stumble as the ground beneath me begins to shake. I fall to my knees, struggling to regain my footing as the tremor subsides. A gloved hand shoves itself in my face.

"What are you doing out here, child?" The guard helps me to my feet. "Your parents must be worried. Find them and leave town together before..."

He swallows hard and I can guess what he's thinking.

"Yes... Yes, sir!" I quickly run, leaving the silent guard to his restless watch.

I dart across the town plaza, almost running into Miss Anju as she and her family.

"Watch yourself, brat!" Her mother hisses at me. I ignore her and keep running, crossing over to the Eastern side of Clock Town. I can see my house. The wood-craft ornaments my mother loves making usually stood outside the entrance, greeting passersby. Today they seemed to stare me down accusingly as I burst into my home, locking the door tightly behind me.

I run into my room and throw myself onto my bed. The familiar scent and warmth do nothing to calm me down, and I realize for the first time since my mad dash from the Termina Fields to my home, that I'd been holding my breath for the greater part of the run.

I cry bitter tears into my pillow. There's no going around it. I killed someone today. I had slayed Goblins and beasts of the fields before, but never a person. Lars' blood is in my hands. Any minute now, his father will know his son's fate and my own will be sealed. I cry uncontrollably because I know there is no going back. Amidst my violent sobs, a new thought enters my head. _I was defending an innocent creature from him, wasn't I?_

_Ohhh, if only Lars hadn't taken such sadistic pleasure from hurting others, this never would have happened to him. It doesn't matter how cruel or mean he was, no child deserved such dark fate..._

_ No. He wasn't a child. He was a monster whose only purpose was to torment me and anyone who he didn't consider Terminian... _

I shiver at the dark thought. It was probably either the low rumble of the shaking ground below my bed or my own incessant quivering that made me fall asleep. My sleep was dreamless and I woke up to the warmth of a wet rag brushing over my face. My mother passed it tenderly over my face as I sat up. "Lars?" She says, more a statement than a question. I nod anyway. Hearing his name tangles my stomach into a knot again.

"Where?" She asks. This is it. I let out a long sigh but it doesn't calm me down. It only agitates me more. "By the swamps, out on Termina Fields."

My mother's loving face suddenly drops, replaced by a mask of incredulous anger.

"Why were you outside the walls?"

"We're leaving today," I confessed. "I wanted to say good-bye to a friend."

"Ethan-"

"She's a Deku Shrub Child. Then Lars and his gang showed up and... they..." I choke and immediately curse myself for it. Tears rush to my eyes. Here it goes.

"They tried to set her on fire..."

My mother drops the wet rag, her eyes wide and I swear she's turning white.

"Ethan," she whispers. "What did you do?"

I hear a creak on the floor and look up to see my father leaning against the hinge of my room door. His jaw was visibly clenched and his eyes seemed sunken, which was strange to see in one of Captain Viscen's Terminian Guards.

"Pack your things," he tells me, gruffly. "We're leaving. Now!"

"Jonathan," my mother gets up from her chair to follow my father down the hall.

"It's happening, Lara," he says as they walk into their room. Their voices are muffled but I'm old enough, intuitive enough, to understand that there are bigger things going on than my problems.

The world as we know it is coming to an end.

I hurry and shove my things into a satchel. I don't have much, but I only pack essentials–a map, an old compass and my slingshot. Tying the ends of the satchel into a knot, I hurry to the kitchen. Another earthquake shakes the ground again, this time so violently that it slams the kitchen table down, breaking it in two.

"Ethan!" My father calls out. I follow his voice towards the door. He finds my hand and we burst out of the door. In front of us, standing in a mob with torches to illuminate the night was Mr. Mutoh and his large family. The rage in their eyes was as fiery as the dancing flames on their torches.

"

"My child, Jonathan!" Mutoh choked in furious tears. "My child is dead. Yours killed him!"

Around him, his family members growl and bark at us. I realize with panic that we are surrounded. My father's fellow guards are nowhere in sight. It's just us and them.

"Mutoh, please," my father tries to reason with him. "We can deal with this another time, but right now we have to get as far from Clock Town as we can!"

"Your child must pay for what he did!" Mutoh insists and again his family roars in agreement. My mother wraps a blanket around my shoulders and holds me between her arms.

"Mutoh, I'm warning you," my father says, stepping forward in between Mother and I and the furious mob. "Step aside, or I _will_ have you arrested."

As if on cue, seven Terminian soldiers forced their way in between Father and the mob. The mob doesn't like this at all and as the soldiers form a human barrier to hold them back, it surges forward. The soldiers strain to hold the furious workers back as they scream obscenities at me and my father.

"Your child will burn for this!" Mutoh yells. My father snaps. I've never seen him snap before.

"Arrest this man!" He barks.

"Yes, sir!" Two soldiers move in to shackle Mr. Mutoh.

My Father turns to me and extends a hand. "Ethan, come. Stay cl—"

His hand is still outstretched to me when an arrow bursts through his chest. A single spurt of his blood splashes against my face and he reaches up to touch the arrowhead when a second arrow pieces his heart from behind.

My mother screams as my father falls to my feet, dead. I see the killer. It's one of Lars' cousins, a carpenter who had been working on the town preparations for the Carnival.

The crossbow in his hands turns towards me. All I see is the blur of my mother throwing herself in front of me. The bolt penetrates her head, and she falls next to my father on the ground. Out of bolts, the cousin throws aside his weapon and runs, the crowd surging forward towards me, overwhelming the soldiers.

I fall to my knees, holding onto my parents, wishing—willing them to live.

_Why me? Why does this has to happen to me? My parents were innocent and these monsters murdered them! They are nothing more than scum... Nothing more...!_

My head swims as the rage I've kept caged within me throughout the years of torture from this family explodes.

_They are animals. They will be slaughtered __as such__._

My body begins to shake violently and my vision goes black momentarily. With an earth-shattering scream, energy within my core explodes. The first five of Mutoh's family reach me. As soon as they lay hands on me, they are immediately disintegrated in a blast of black energy. A black Triangle forms on my right hand. Both of my hands involuntarily lift up and blasts of energy shoot force, mowing through the mob.

My world becomes black as I slip into unconsciousness.

As I sleep, all I can hear is their dying, blood-curdling screams.


	3. Rebirth

CHAPTER 3

REBIRTH

"_**The right thing...what is it? I wonder...if you do the right thing...does it really make...everybody...happy?" **_

_** ~Moon Child**_

Debris and bodies liter the blood-soaked dirt and stone floors of Clock Town when my vision finally comes back to me. Sweat is pouring down my face and my hands tremble. There is a soft tingling at the tips of my fingers. The black triangle of light that had settled over the back of my right hand has now seared itself into my skin, glowing in the darkness.

As I catch my breath, the smoke begins to clear and my pupils once again adjust to the darkness. Charred bodies lay in unnatural positions throughout the entire neighborhood. I recognize a few only by the flame-proof tools hanging by their belts.

_What... happened?  
_I remember the mob. I remember watching my father and mother murdered in front of me.

And then it overcame me. This darkness took control of me. I gently pass my fingers over the black triangle tattoo on my hand. _This destruction... such carnage... was this... all caused by me?_

The ground shakes violently underneath me again and I look up. The soft blue hues of dawn begin to paint the late night sky, or rather, what patch of sky I can see. The moon is enormous and takes up miles of sky.

"Ethan!"

I turn to the familiar voice and my heart leaps to see Professor Shikashi.

"Ethan! This is no time to be standing around!" He grabs my arm and urges me to follow him.

"Hurry! The moon is crashing!"

I follow him up the charred wooden steps towards the Northern part of the town, almost bounding along the way. We get to a cellar of sorts and he fumbles with a set of keys, quickly unlocking the door.

That's when the moon hits.

The sound is deafening. It's the type of sound that's so loud you hear nothing at all. I turn around instinctively and see the moon crashing down on Clock Tower, obliterating the historic site like a twig under one's boot. When it hits the ground there is a large flash of light so bright it blinds me.

"Ethan," Professor Shikashi tells me with that tired, sad voice of his. "Do me a favor, boy. Live. Live through this and rebuild."

I don't get a chance to ask him what he means. He shoves me into the door and I fall in for what seems like minutes, hitting the floor, hard. Above me, I see the fires of the destruction washing over the cellar but dying short of entering.

It's then when I realize sadly that Professor Shikashi sacrificed himself to save me. And yet another innocent person's life is in my hands. I have no tears left to cry. The stress of the day is overwhelming and all I want to do is sleep.

_ Perhaps the fires above will find me while I sleep. If I'm lucky, I'll get a quick death._

Hugging my knees, I lean against the dirt walls, letting the roars and impacts of the end of the world lull me to sleep.

* * *

**DAWN OF A NEW DAY**

* * *

I'm surprised to find myself waking up. The first thing I do is sneeze. A layer of dust flutters from my hair and clothes and settles gently to the ground. There is absolute darkness down here, except for a single square of light radiating from the door frame above. I stretch my hands out in front of me, walking blindly, following the wall until my foot hits a step.

I step up and bring the other foot up. Slow and steadily, I climb the creaking stairs until I reach the door. With a quick shove, the door gives way and light pours into the cellar, blinding me.

When my vision finally recovers, I see nothing.

For miles and miles away, I see nothing but destruction. The entire town and its walls have been leveled The towering mountains and canyons, waterfall swamps and even the Great Sea are all gone, replaced by a great vast nothingness.

It reminds me of the story my father used to tell me about the creation of life.

_My father..._

A sadness creeps over me as I realize that I may be the only living thing left in Termina. I can't help but wonder if something could have been done to prevent all this destruction. But nobody seemed to care. Nobody payed attention to the signs but my father and Captain Viscen.

_That fat bastard Mutoh and his family certainly did nothing to help and neither did our pathetic excuse for a Mayor, whose sole preoccupation was keeping his spoiled obese wife happy. _

_ Where were those of the four compass kingdoms?_

_ Where were our so-called guardians? _

_ The world away from Termina turned a blind eye and left us to die. _

_My fists begin to shake again as the anger simmers within me, bright hot. _

_ Humanity is a sickening batch of rotting maggots who care only about themselves and will stomp on others less fortunate when given the chance. _

_ All my life, I've suffered abuse from my peers because I was different._

_I look down at the triangle in my hand again. I am different. And it's time the world shared my pain._

_I HATE HUMANITY!_

A chill runs down my spine as I hear a soft bump. I turn towards the sound of the movement. It's beneath a large chunk of concrete debris. Intrigued, I run towards the jumping stone and bury my fingers underneath, angling my body to pull the stone up and off.

Beneath is a carcass of something unrecognizable. The body jumps, to my surprise and I fall back. Something underneath the body pushes its way up. The object floats slowly into the air and I get closer to get a better look.

It turns to me. It's a heart-shaped purple mask with several spikes protruding from its sides. A pair of glowing yellow eyes stare at me, seemingly studying past me into my soul.

"What..." I clear my dry throat. "What are you?"

The mask seems to consider this before responding in a shadowy voice.

"I am... death. Once a god amongst men, now reduced to this lowly state of servitude."

"You caused all this?" I ask it, rage blanketing my voice. "I've lost everything because of you!"

"Then we share more in common then just our fates, child," it responds after a long pause. "I was once a great and powerful dragon. I lived as I pleased. My only crime was being unique and powerful... the humans murdered me for my indestructible armor, bathed in my blood and carved a mask from my hide. My soul, my essence, my power... they are the mask now."

"More innocent blood shed by evil, greedy men," I comment absently, more to myself than to the mask. "I feel for you, creature."

"They took everything from me," the Mask whispers and in its voice, I can hear my own. The events of the previous day—no, my life, flash before me in that instant.

"But I no longer sing the Song of Sorrow," the mask says.

"There is only rage." I finish for it.

The mask nods and glows. I can feel its loneliness radiating from its hard shell and realize it mirrors my own.

"You are the only human who has ever understood me," the mask says.

I nod. "And you, me."

The mask is silent for a moment. "I give my power to you," it says, finally.

"What?"

"Take my power," it repeats. "That nobody may ever take from you again. The Skull Child you found, he was my previous master. He was nothing but greed. All he wanted was to take. He caused this destruction, but you are different. You have power. In the right hands I can be a useful tool. A weapon of punishment against those that poison this world."

It floats gently into my hands. As soon as my skin touches it, I feel an overwhelming sense of power.

Yes.

This world is rotten and must be punished.

My father had joined the Terminian Guard to make a difference, only to be killed by the very people he had sworn to protect. The decision is made. I will use this power to eradicate the filth from this world. I will create a new world, where evil does not exist.

Where no child will ever have to suffer what I have suffered.

I tilt the mask forward and press it into my face...

_This puppet is delicious. This puppet is unaware of its Hylian heritage and power and it has a burning rage unlike the previous fool. With this new power, I will annihilate the creation of the Goddesses. _

_ I will... consume..._

_ CONSUME... EVERYTHING...!_

**"_Y__our true face... What kind of... face is it? I wonder... The face under the mask... Is that... your true face?"_**

**_ ~Moon Child_**

**_TO BE CONTINUED..._**


End file.
